Prescription medications are an effective way to bring improvements in the health and well being of many people. Many patients, however, fail to receive proper screening and educational instruction on the prevention of prescription drug abuse. Critical to this issue is the fact that medications such as tranquilizers, sedatives, analgesics, and stimulants may lead to drug misuse, dependence, and addiction if not administered and managed properly. The National Institute on Drug Abuse recently noted that the abuse of prescription medications is on the rise and there appears to be increased concern for older adults, adolescents, and women. The purpose of the current project is to develop and test an innovative web-based educational program designed to prevent prescription drug abuse among women. The program will contain important information on the safe use of medications with abuse potential and on alternatives to taking medications. During Phase I of the project, the prototype structure and content will be developed and tested with focus groups of working women. In Phase II, the program will be expanded, field-tested, revised, and prepared for marketing to corporations and managed care organizations. There is currently a clear tack of an interactive, multimedia program for women addressing the issue of prescription drug use and abuse. Such a program is a much needed tool that should have substantial appeal to corporations wishing to provide their employees with information that can decrease their risk to drug misuse and increase morale and productivity at work. Managed care organizations should also be interested in a program that could help reduce the cost of prescription drug misuse and abuse in women of all ages.
